NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - “There are two of them. One has a bald
head and a grey T-shirt, and the other guy has a dark hat on.”

The man in the blue striped shirt spoke between deep intakes of breath
as he crouched between two Rutgers University policemen as all three
took cover behind the patrol car. Men carrying guns had invaded the
idyllic scenery of this central New Jersey university campus and fired
off a number of shots at students, teachers and children attending summer
camp, including the man now shielded by the cops, who had managed to
elude the gunmen’s grasp before they were able to take a number
of hostages.

The cops were in touch with their command post which was monitoring
the campus via aerial shots provided by a Oh- 58 Kiowa observation helicopter,
which was hovering overhead. Minutes later, two New Jersey National
Guard UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters swooped in to deposit members of the
Middlesex County Special Operations Reaction Team (SORT) right in the
middle of the New Brunswick campus. The SORT immediately fanned out
and advanced on one of the student buildings. Gunshots follow.

Under different circumstances this would be the beginning of a frightening
situation reminiscent of what took place at the Virginia Tech campus
several months ago. But this was not a real hostage situation, just
an exercise that involved numerous state and local law enforcement and
emergency services agencies. The goal of the exercise was to solidify
the cooperation between agencies which may be called upon to work together
on short notice during a real terrorist threat.

“Our specialization in Homeland Security is providing support
to law enforcement,” explains Lt. Col. John Sheard of the New
Jersey National Guard. “So primarily from the aircraft side of
the house, [support] with the lift aircraft is to bring the Special
Operations teams to a location so they can deploy more rapidly and with
a show of force.”

While transporting law enforcement reaction teams is important, knowing
where to transport them is just as important. “With the reconnaissance
aircraft, we have the capability of taking photos from the air, day
or night, video downlink technology, from the tactical side of the house,
to vehicles at the site, and strategically, we can send that signal
throughout the state, to the Adjutant General’s office and to
the New Jersey State Police office, which is where this all centralizes
from,” notes Sheard.

Helping to provide that signal is Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Steber
of the 2-104th Service and Support Aviation Battalion. Steber, who manages
the equipment that receives the video signal from the helicopter, has
worked with law enforcement before. “Most of the law enforcement
agencies that I’ve had a personal interface with really look to
us for the support that they don’t have,” says Steber. “It’s
a definite asset for them as far as visual and electronic information
being provided to the task force commanders and the command posts when
they’re doing these types of operations."

With the help of the New Jersey National Guard, this exercise ends
well according to Detective Douglas Sprague, Deputy Task Force Commander
of the SORT. “We had information that there were three active
shooters somewhere in the building, we assembled the SORT into 20- man
assault teams, and we cleared four floors of the building and took the
bad guys down outside the building.” All in all, a good day for
the good guys, with a little help from the New Jersey National Guard.